Watch: Eye-Popping Trailer For Sam Raimi’s ‘Oz The Great And Powerful’

Watch: Eye-Popping Trailer For Sam Raimi's 'Oz The Great And Powerful'

Comic-Con kicked off in full force today, and you don't have to be in San Diego to get the goodies. Not long after they showed off a sizzle reel to the crowd in Hall H, Disney went ahead and dumped the first trailer for "Oz The Great And Powerful" online, and yeah, it's actually pretty impressive.

As revealed at the beginning of the year, Sam Raimi gives a nod to the past by opening the film in old school, windowboxed, square black-and-white before transitioning to color. And what color it is. The big-budget prequel of sorts follows Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs (James Franco), a showman and magician at a traveling circus who flees in a hot air balloon after being caught canoodling with a customer’s wife, only to be swept away in a terrible storm to wake up in the magical land of Oz, which is run by two magical wicked witches (Mila Kunis and Rachel Weisz). Michelle Williams plays Glinda the Good Witch, with the young Joey King playing China Girl and Zach Braff rounding things out as Franco’s loyal but underappreciated assistant.

Yes, this looks like a green-screen machine, but we have to say it does look pretty impressive, and frankly like something adults will be able to enjoy as well, unlike Disney's other (yet still $1 billion earning) fairy tale revisionist movie, "Alice In Wonderland." And it looks like some considerable care went into the visual look of the film, which again, looks far more varied, interesting and detailed than Tim Burton's relatively plain and uninspired 'Alice.' That said, James Franco as the lead is the wildcard, as he can be wildly unpredictable (particularly when he's not feeling invested in the part) or fade into the wallpaper. But it looks like he's rising to the occasion here, and he's not lacking in solid support around him.

Thoughts? Let us know below. "Oz The Great And Powerful" opens on March 8, 2013.

Comments

Chris Kevin
May 13, 2016 8:03 am

"Oz The Great and Powerful" will be the most entertaining, candy-colored, fantasy film of 2013. It will be one of the spring films of next year other than "GIJoe:Retaliation" with Channing Tatum, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Rachel Weitz, James Franco, Michelle Williams, and Mila Kunis will all look amazing in Sam Raimi's prequel story to Frank L. Baum's "The Wizard Of Oz" novel book.

This why I hold so much respect for directors like Christopher Nolan and Darren Aronofsky, who rely on practical sets and effects versus the overuse of CG. What happened to actually building sets these days? Did the entire budget go towards the insane salaries of their actors that they couldn't afford to actually build anything from scratch? Take a note from Aronofsky, whose actually building an entire arc for his project Noah. The design for this film looks great, yes, but the execution has left little to be desired. Whenever I see Disney and From the Producer of Alice and Wonderland, I know to avoid it. Which is why I fear for Malefienctâ¦

Looks 10 times more fun and inspired than Burton's hack direction on Alice in Wonderland. If Raimi can hit that spot of Spider-Man 1-2 blockbuster filmmaking this one could be amazing. Oh, and who the fuck was Marc Webb again?